This is spot on. Films don't need a dedicated fan base to be successful. It's becoming rare obviously, but avatar is more in line with the blockbuster movies you just mentioned. And it's refreshing - online fandom for 'IP' has become so over bearing.

Oh my, as huge an impact as Star Wars? Many schoolars will disagree with you. Funny enough, Avatar built on what the prequels built. Before the prequels, digital filmmaking in all digital environments was unheard off. Granted, the movies look bad and aren't well regarded but the first leap was done by George Lucas

Pretty interesting article. This is a weird fucking topic. This idea that 'we can't upset anybody' is leading to some very strange shifts in artistic expression. I wonder if there will be some sort of major push-back in the near future in regards to this... I guess you could call it censorship at this point.

That's what baffles me. I mean it's fine, but 2 freaking billion dollars fine?

This is my whole point. How can a movie this successful have no fandom. Many people say "because normal people went and saw it" but that doesn't explain 2 freaking billion dollars. All the highest grossing movies have fanbases, sans Titanic.

1. AVATAR
2. Avengers
3. Titanic
4. Avatar 2
5. SW The Force Awakens
6. Avengers Infinity War
7. Spider Man No Way Home
8. Jurassic World
9. The Lion King
10. The Avengers.

All those movies have fanbases except for Avatar and to some extent Titanic. 2 billion is a tough nut to crack and yet only 1-6 have achieved it

I genuinely can't watch anything other than ABC and SBS - everything else ranges from either "Godawful" to "absolute shite that makes me want to lose my sight"...

Where are all the Titanic or Godfather "fanatics"?

Some of the biggest films of all time don't have fandoms.

Rabid fandom for every franchise is a relatively new phenomenon mostly spured on by commercialism (merch) and the internet (commercialism).

Avatar is a good old fashion blockbuster hit, that doesn't need to rely on nerdom to make 2 of the top 5 biggest hits of all time.

I was shocked that people aren’t talking about how annoying Spider is. He’s worse than Jar Jar Binks imo. I could not believe how terrible that character was. If he’s in 3 I won’t see it.

I think it's an age thing. The only people I've heard mention this movie are over 60, the same people who thought Maverick was directed by God himself /s. Probably good reason why those are both nominated for Best Picture this year.

Because its weird af to go multiple times lol. No avg person watches the same movie in the Cinema lmao

Female lead films that capture the feel of Run Lola Run

But with Endgame, you saw the memes, you heard people quoting "and I'm Iron Man". You saw a bunch of mashups from the "Avengers... Assemble" scene. You saw tributes to Tony Stark. You heard people seeing it over and over again. People would take their tshirts to see the movie. Not with Avatar. I mean, I bet at least your dad knows Captain America... or heck, at least Spider Man

He was pretty good in Otto, but absolutely awful in Elvis

Dae no cultural impact?

In gross, yes. And maybe it’s footprint isn’t in the volume of annoying ‘fan’ talk but rather in technological development. In that sense it’s impact is huge. Much like Star Wars actually.

There's just nothing really to it other than being a display of cutting edge special effects. Its a fun visual experience and not much more. And even that gets boring pretty quick once you get used to it.

Absolutely nailed it

Yeap. There are other threads here if you don't want to do this again. It's not mandatory for you to comment, you know

Avatar is the strangest thing. It’s evidently super popular and yet I’ve never met a fanatic. It’s the weirdest non existent fandom thing.

It's because it appeals to families and average irl life people went and saw it, not terminally online pop culture nerds.

Aka the majority not the loud minority.

Endgame is massive and my dad couldn’t recite a single character. My sister too, and she actually loves those movies. I get that it’s somewhat confusing, no one’s still talking about it. But people are seeing it because it’s a cinematic event. Singular.

Mmmm well, isn't Avatar 1 the biggest movie ever?

Penny also died at 75. Strange

For a movie no one is talking about you fuckers keep making this exact same observation and it rings hollower every time it's said.

No I don't. As I said, I bump into all kinds of people because of my work. One of my best friends has very different taste in movies than me. He is more of a mainstream guy and yet, no Avatar discussion. This is just one example. But no, no echo chamber since I really want to stop seeing Wednesday tribute dance videos. I have no desire to watch it and somehow I see a ton of people close to me reference it or talk about it.